


Cessation

by Peachjooce



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Apocalypse, Escape, F/M, Thriller
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:48:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28006446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peachjooce/pseuds/Peachjooce
Summary: Waking up in a frozen pond with no recollection of how he got there, Vince must find out what happened to him, but something more sinister is going on in the background.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character





	1. Prologue

**Prologue**

I opened my eyes under the gelid water, my eyes burned from the cold as I pulled myself forward, driving my frozen body through the layer of ice above. I was reborn.

I gasped for breath, my lungs filling with the crisp air of what felt to be an early spring morning. My hair flattened against my forehead, water trickling down my face. Time seemed to be moving slowly, if at all. I let out my first breath, and in those precious seconds of my blurred emergence, the sky was painted a smooth gradient of pink and orange, the frost on the surface of the pond, mimicked the sky. 

I waded my way to the edge of the pond, I was shaking, my skin still numb, and my joints now thawing out. I collapsed onto the ground. It’s beyond me how I got into the pond—but somehow and for some reason there I was, and for a while, it seemed. 

My mind raced with questions, questions no one could answer, questions I had nobody to ask.  _ Where was I? Who was I? Why am I here? _

The willow that leaned over the pond stood perfectly still as the melting frost dripped from its leaves and into the water below. I felt connected to this place, this spot, but something told me I couldn’t stay. As much as I wanted to stay, instinct demanded me to run. Someone had all the answers to my questions, I just had to find them. 


	2. Chapter 2

I followed my gut, I broke off in an unknown direction, The birch trees that surrounded me were a continuous white streak as I ran, but I didn’t stop—I couldn’t stop. Something in me knew what I was looking for, but in all honesty, I had no idea what I was doing. Where I was headed beyond my knowledge. I was either running deeper into the birch or I was clumsily running to my return to civilization. I tripped more than once, leaves from the previous autumn flung up and fell once again as I kicked them into the air, the melting ground made it hard for me to balance as low lying branches tore at my face and my clothes. Finally, I exploded from the birch. Wincing as the sun-blasted my eyes. To my surprise, a small house had presented itself before me. _Maybe someone here can help me._

I began walking through the tall grass that surrounded the house. It looked a bit run down however I had hope that someone may have still lived there. A large raven had been circling me as I pushed my way forward. From behind, I heard a large swoop, before I was hit by an unknown object and I fell to the ground. Beside me the raven scrambled to its feet, it seemed to scan me over as if it had been looking for me. It stared into my soul with icy blue eyes. It spread its wings wide, then suddenly sliced through the air, the raven shot in an upwards motion like a missile, growing and changing shape until it no longer looked like a raven, but a man. 

The man got to the ground plucking a few feathers out of his jet-black ponytail. He looked young, about mid-twenties, he could have been attractive, but his dark eyes and pallid skin made him look—dead. He spoke quietly “What do you remember?”

“What do you mean? Are we not going to talk about how you were just an animal five seconds ago!?”

“Be mindful of your volume Vincent.” He let out a long sigh “I see you remember how to speak, anything else?”

“I remember people not being able to turn into birds?”

“Do you remember anything about yourself, any personal memories?

“What? No. I didn’t know what my name was until just now, what’s going on?” 

“I’m not going to bombard you with information here, it’s not the time or place, come with me” He yanked me up, the both of us staying low. _Who were we hiding from?_

Upon entering the beaten-down house I was surprised to see the house inside had been well kept, the windows had been blacked out and boarded up but the inside was clean and lit with aged lamps and ceiling lights. The man gave me a towel and new clothes and without asking for the direction I headed up the stairs and into a familiar room. It was untouched, as I dried myself I glanced in the mirror that had a thin layer of dust covering it. Upon clearing it I saw myself. About early twenties, pale, black strands of short wavy hair and piercing blue eyes with dark circles. However, one peculiar thing stood out to me, a small scar with dark veins surrounding it. I stared at it for a moment before brushing it off. After putting on the clothes that were conveniently my size I made my way back downstairs to find the man sitting in a chair, pouring hot tea into a cup.

“Tea?”

“What? No. I’m too confused for a cup of tea at the moment” I plunked myself down onto the aged sofa “Are you going to introduce yourself? Or do I guess your name?”

The man paused for a moment “my name is Wilson.” He put down his cup of tea “Your body was dumped into that pond after you were found dead, about two years ago.”

“How do you know this?”

He hesitated, “Well I found your body, and put you there to hide your body and leave an easy escape IF you woke up. Like I did.”

“Wait. Hold on. You found a dead body, mine, and you carried it to a pond and dumped it there because you thought I would wake up... From death? Like you? What? What happened to you?”

Wilson narrowed his eyebrows. “I just thought—Nevermind. To be honest, I can’t remember exactly what happened to me either, impaled by something I think.” He lifted the side of his shirt to reveal a large scar in his abdomen that went through to his back. I thought about the scar and dark veins I saw on my chest just moments before. _Is that the scar from my death?_

“So wait— how did you turn yourself into the bird that attacked me earlier?”

I could see some level of frustration in his eyes as I tried to understand the bizarreness of it all, but he kept his soft tone “It’s my ability as an undead.”

I raised an eyebrow, confused. He was vague, and short sentenced like he didn’t like to talk but I was forcing him to. “So can I do the same thing?”

“Probably not, we’re different people who have different physical capabilities, and different personalities”, He let out a sigh as if I was supposed to understand the mechanics behind it all so he wouldn’t have to explain. Looking at me with eyes that seemed like they could only portray sadness he took a deep breath, “It’s hard to explain, but to put it simply the undead have specific abilities unique to each individual. There’s not many of us that occur naturally anymore.”

Before I could ask another question the door from the basement flung open, a small voice shouted in a panic, “Hello?!” Immediately Wilson shot up from his chair and dashed downstairs. My mind still buzzing with billions of questions, I followed to investigate who had just entered the house. 


	3. Chapter 3

Halfway down the stairs and into the poorly lit basement, I saw a girl very faintly, the most noticeable thing about her was her yellow windbreaker, and off to the side ponytail. She looked to be about my age, at least—my physical age. 

“Who’s that? And why is he here?” She turned to me, eyeing me up and down. 

Before I could open my mouth Wilson spoke, “You came in flustered, what’s going on?”

She turned to him, “I was being followed, I think I lost them but they’re around, keep an ear out.” She turned back to me, her frustration started showing in her tone. “Now, who is he and why is he here?” Wilson didn’t answer, and I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t know her. She began storming over to me, she was short about up to my shoulder at best. She came right up to my face—the best she should—before coming to some sort of realization. Like she recognized me or something.  _ Did she know me too? _ “Vince?”  _ She did.  _ She whipped her head back to Wilson.

“He doesn’t remember anything.”

She turned back to me, sadness in her eyes, “that’s... unfortunate.” She moved me out of the way and made her way upstairs, removing her coat on her way up. 

I turned to Wilson bewildered, “Right, okay, um, what’s all this about, is there anyone else that knows me?” 

“No, just us, we waited for you, we were hoping you’d have some memory when you woke up.”

I don’t know what happened to me after he said that, but all I felt was a building and burning rage until I blew up. “The both of you are clinically insane. I’ve known you for a solid two hours, and I just met her 30 seconds ago, and so far what I’ve experienced is psychotic, am I being pranked or something, am I in a coma? Why would anyone wait for a dead person, you don’t just WAIT for a dead person to wake up. And then be disappointed when they somehow do wake up and they have no recollection of what the fuck is going on, because they were dead, passed away, in the void, whatever you want to call it—for 5 years!” He stared at me, he seemed menacing in the dim lighting, I didn’t realize just how tall he actually was until he was standing right in front of me, I hadn’t felt scared of him until this moment, but I wasn’t going to back down, I was ready to fight even though I knew I’d lose. However, subverting my expectations he instead picked me up, threw me over his shoulder and brought me upstairs, I was angry but I didn’t want to kick and scream like a child, I felt emasculated enough as it was. “And who the fuck are we hiding from? Can I get an explanation?! Anything?!” He dumped me onto the couch beside the girl.

Wilson sat in the chair across the room, “I knew you before you died, you and Penny met when the town put out bounties on the undead, even people suspected of being related to the undead were sought after, you came to find me so we could all leave together.”

“Why you, specifically?” I turned to Penny, “Why were we trying to leave? I wasn’t undead at the time and you look to still be alive, so...”

“Well... after my family had given in to the mass hysteria, you took me with you to see if your brother was still alive.”

_ My brother? What?  _ Before I could open my mouth to speak the front door began to shake—someone was trying to get in. 

“Hide.” Wilson swiftly changed into his raven form, posing as a taxidermy on the closest shelf. Penny grabbed my arm, we sprinted upstairs and into one of the bedrooms. She lifted the rug, revealing a loose board about a foot wide that she attempted to lift, but couldn’t. 

“It’s stuck,” Penny whispered.

I grabbed the floorboard and pulled until it cracked open, revealing a small crawl space probably large enough for the two of us if we stacked on top of one another, but it was going to be tight, she went in, then I did. There was a loud bang downstairs, the door was open— _ they got in _ . I reached for the carpet, and flung it over the board, scrambling to grab the handle underneath, I proceeded to try and close it, but it wouldn’t close, they would find us. I forced it until it creaked and slammed shut. 

“Upstairs!” a voice called. My heart was racing, Penny and I were on top of one another, I could hear her heart pounding. They came into the room, we both held our breath as they walked over the very board which we were hiding under. I hoped there was no wrinkle in the carpet to reveal our hiding spot. I was shaking. I heard them searching the room, then the carpet lifted and the loose board started to pry open.  _ They found us _ . It opened, but everything was still dark, I could see Penny and my limbs but nothing else. The board was shut again, “Nothing in this room!” They left.  _ What just happened? _ Penny and I didn’t speak until we were sure they were gone. When Wilson gave the all-clear, we emerged from hiding.

“Are you two okay?” 

Penny sat on the couch, “We’re fine, I just don’t understand how they didn’t see us” she laid down, a pillow tightly gripped in her arms.

I was still shaking, my fingertips blue from fear “They found where we were hiding but. They didn’t see us... it was like we weren’t even there.” 

Wilson was silent for a moment, “Fear must have triggered your ability, do you think you were invisible?”

“No, I don’t think we were invisible.”

“I could still see Vince, and myself. But, nothing else. It was like we vanished into the shadows or something.”

  
I thought of the wound on my chest and the dark veins surrounding it. _Was it an ability, or something else?_ I wanted to say something but I choked on my words, I felt like I was drowning, my vision began to tunnel, my ears rang, I was underwater again _“Vince? Is everything alright?” ... “Is he okay?”—_ I blacked out.


	4. Chapter 4

_ It’s a real lovely day here in Gravewood, the sun is going to be shining brightly all day, temperatures reaching a whopping 32 degrees today, a perfect day for the beach except for those of you undead—  _

EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM

\--------------------------------------

URGENT MESSAGE FROM 

YOUR LOCAL CIVIL AUTHORITIES

\---------------------------------------

PLEASE STANDBY FOR THE 

AUDIO PORTION OF THIS MESSAGE

_ At 2:36 PM a mine fire in lower Gravewood has caused the release of unknown gasses. Public health authorities are speculating gases to be negatively affecting the living. Symptoms include paranoia, violent behaviour, hallucinations, headache, and fever. No Undead have been affected. Please follow these instructions until further notice: Remain inside. Lock your doors. Do not enter your basement. Do not open your windows, turn on air exchangers or air conditioners. And Distance yourself from living family members. _

_ —— _

_ Rriingg, rriinngg, rriinngg, The number you have dialled has been disconnected—click. _

“Fuck.”

“No word from him?”

“Nothing."

“Do you think he’s okay?”

“I don’t know.” 

“Well…. Do you think you know where he might be?”

“I have an idea, but it’s unlikely.”

“Maybe he already fled.”

“I doubt it. He’s stubborn, he’ll probably try to wait things out.”

“We can’t stay here. You know that right?”

“I know.”

“Everyone’s gone crazy. We’ll both be killed if they find us.”

“I’m not leaving without him.”

“What if he’s already been killed?”

“Then we leave.”

“You’re going to risk your life and my life for him?”

“You’re free to leave. I never said you needed to follow me. You chose to stay with me.”

“And my choice now is that I’m not leaving you behind, but we need to make a move fast.”

“I know.”

——

“What do you mean you’re not leaving?”

“I’m staying here. We spent our summers here as kids, I’m not leaving it behind.”

“You’re putting her and I and even yourself, at a high risk of getting killed.”

“No one told you to come for me.”

“You and I are the last people in our family that are alive.”

“You can start a new family. You don’t need me for any of that.”

“That’s not the point. You’re my brother.”

“And I’ll be fine on my own. Just as you’ll be on your own, you’re 23.”

“You’re being irrational.”

“I’m making my own decisions, thinking for myself, you should do the same.”

“You’re a real selfish dickhead.”

“Of course I am to you. I didn’t need you to rescue me when things went to shit. That was your choice to play hero when nobody asked you to. You think I’m the asshole but you put yourself and that girl in danger for someone you didn’t even know was still alive. You’re lucky you didn’t have yourselves killed looking for me.”

“But we didn’t, and we found you. You know the only reason why you want to stay here is that you’ve been stuck reminiscing on the past for 4 years. She started a new life after you died because you told her not to wait for you. Maybe you should move on too.”

“I didn’t have control over how long it would take me to come back, and neither will you.”

“I’ve come to terms with it. Maybe you should at least try to as well so you don’t keep wallowing in your own shame and sadness for the rest of your life. I’ve been concerned for you, I came looking for you.”

“Just… Get out.”

“You’re kidding. You’re not going to kick me out over this.”

“You heard me. Get out.”

“Alright, fine. Just give me until tomorrow to work out a way out of this town.”

“No. I want you to leave now. Not tomorrow, not a week from now. Right now.”

“I’m not putting her at risk of leaving now.”

“I’ll guide her out. Just get the fuck out of my house.”

“Fine.”

——

_ Vince? _

The water disappeared.


	5. Chapter 5

I jolted awake. I was in a bed, the room I recognized as the one I had been in earlier. It seemed like time hadn’t moved.  _ How long have I been out?  _ I threw myself back into the pillow.  _ What was that dream about? _ But before I could really think about it, the memory had faded.  _ Damn.  _ It seemed like it was still morning, maybe it was all just some weird lucid dream. I stared at the ceiling fan that had ripped up decals of some cartoon characters that were no longer legible and a missing chain.  _ I wonder how old that is _ . I started to analyze the room. A child-size dresser with a box TV on top stood at the foot of my bed. Oddly nostalgic items were scattered around the room, like trading cards and various fast food figurines of characters I no longer recognize. I sat on the edge of the bed, then it hit me—this was my room.  _ The summer home. That’s right, Wilson didn’t want to leave.  _ I felt angry because I now knew why I died, just not how I died, and I might never find out. It tore at me, but not as much as the idea that Wilson caused this whole ordeal. I tried to calm myself down, but the more I tried the more something fought against it. It wanted to hurt someone, it wanted to start a fight and win. I prayed no one would enter the room because I didn’t know if I would be able to control my actions had it been Wilson. but I was unlucky. There was a knock on the door, and the feeling subsided. I didn’t answer but they came in anyway, it was Penny.  _ Thank fuck.  _

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Come in, just close the door behind you.”

She closed the door behind her “You’ve been asleep since yesterday. You must have passed out from exhaustion. I just came in to bring you a glass of water.” She set the water down on the nightstand beside me.

“Thanks. Penny, look, I need to ask you something, I think you’d know.”

“Vince, look, I don’t think I’ll be any good at answering any undead questions I’m not—”

“No, it’s not about that. H- how close were we before I died?”

She paused, “We were kind of close, when we were super young we were close friends. You lived right across the street, we chatted throughout high school but we weren’t close, then by college, we no longer spoke. The mine fire is what brought us close again. People started rioting, making claims that the undead were the cause of the whole thing. Saying it’s a ploy to kill the living and take the town. It affected almost everyone who was living. Those who didn’t join the mob were killed. Once my parents went crazy I went to you, you were packing a bag. You insisted on finding Wilson, even though his number had been disconnected. And now we’re here.”

“But you’re stuck now.”

She shrugged, “We might find a way out. After all, we did disappear the other day.” 

“You know I have no idea what happened right?”

“I know. I think if you gave it some thought you’d be able to figure out what exactly you did.”

I thought about it for a moment,  _ Was it a good thing though?  _ “Look, I’m going to do the best I can so that we can get out. I’m sorry that I made you wait for 2 years.”

“It’s not your fault.” She began making her way out of the room, “I’m sure we’ll be okay.” she left.

I was alone with my own thoughts again. 


	6. Chapter 6

After a week I regained most of my strength and various unimportant memories had slipped their way back into my mind, like how Wilson used to play baseball and try to whiff me with the ball. No one had bothered us since the day Penny and I vanished into the shadows, I still don’t understand how I did it, but I was confident that. Wilson didn’t speak much. Things felt, awkward. Penny and I had begun working on an escape plan. We knew Wilson wasn’t going to be coming with us. 

“And you’re sure there’s no way to take the sewers?”

“We can’t, the coal seam is still burning, it'll be full of gasses, plus it’s probably caged off.” 

“And we couldn’t disguise ourselves as part of the mob at all?”

“Vince. You’re the colour of this paper.”

“Right. What if we stole a car, and I hid in the trunk and you drove it out?”

“I- I can’t drive.”

“Oh.”

“Also where are we going to get a car? We are on the outskirts of town with not a vehicle in sight. We would have to go into the town and inhale a bunch of smog. How would we steal a car anyway, do you know how to break into a car and get it to start?”

“Surprisingly that is a memory that came back. Apparently, I lost my car keys often enough that breaking in and starting it without the key was usual for me.”

She looked at me with a face of disbelief and horror, “Nice to be learning things about you that are questionable while being simultaneously attractive.”

My heart made a loop-de-loop feeling.  _ The fuck?  _ “Thank you? Anyway, what happened to my car? We could go get it.”

“You wrote it off trying to get it down the dirt road to this house.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, also once again, where are we going to get a car, and how the hell do you think we’re going to get out? There are guards at every exit gate and 12-foot fences, they’re not going to allow a random vehicle with people in it—who, may I remind you, are more than likely wanted people— to just pass through. We need a solid plan like we need to disappear.”

“Okay look, I know what you’re getting at, but I don’t think I know how to access that.”

“C’mon Vince! It’s insanely cool and will help us tonnes, almost guaranteeing we’ll get out.” She put her hands on my shoulders and looked directly into my eyes. “Do it for me. I’m pretty well useless in this whole expedition except for the fact I know virtually everything about this town—”

“That doesn’t seem very useless to me.”

“Shut-up, that's not what I mean. I physically can’t do anything about us getting out, but you can. I can guide us around the town safely, you can get us through the fence.”

“I know that we weren’t visible that day, but that doesn’t mean we can go right through the fence.”

There was a knock on the door to the bedroom, it was Wilson, “there are people outside, be prepared to hide.”

“Sure thing,” Penny looked back to me, “Turn us into the shadows again.”

“Penny I-”

“Do it, Vince, lets see what it does”

“Fine. I’m not sure if I remember how to do it though,” I held her arm and thought about disappearing but nothing happened, “Penny I don’t think-”

“Maybe you actually need to be in darkness for it to work?” She dragged me into the corner of the room where a dresser cast a large shadow, “Here, try it again.”

I sighed, something didn’t feel right about this. I thought about the last time we disappeared, what I felt before it happened, and we disappeared. Darkness engulfed us again, it was just me, and her, the shadows seemed different from the way I remembered them, I couldn’t see anything, but somehow I could. It was— oddly comforting. I looked at Penny, who was talking but she sounded muffled, I couldn’t make out what she was saying. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the veins in my arm had darkened like the ones on my chest.  _ Weird.  _ I let go of Penny and emerged out of the shadows, then a pain struck me in my chest. I didn’t know what was going on. The only reaction I could muster was hysterical laughing as my body fell to the floor. I had no control over myself, and a wave of anger hit. Whispers rang in my ears, I balled my fists, my chest felt heavy with a passion to hurt something. It felt like I had the strength of a hundred men and I wanted to hear someone scream. I fought the urges, but the more I fought the more they increased. This time I wasn’t sure I could stop it. 


End file.
